Rating: 17/20
Where: Hamburg, Germany
When: Dinner for 3 on 5 July 2023
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 225 Euro, Wine pairing 160 Euro
Accolades: 2 Michelin Stars
Why: Great views and service, many delicious dishes

The restaurant “Lakeside” is located in Hamburg, more precisely on the top floor of the swanky Fontenay hotel, offering guests a panoramic view of downtown Hamburg across the Außenalster lake. So Lakeside is a fairly apt (and quite literal) name for the restaurant.

The Fontenay hotel was built by a German billionaire with the goal of providing a world-class hotel for Hamburg, and our stay there was indeed pretty impressive. Clearly, the restaurant aims to match that level of excellence. And while the Fontenay hasn't quite mastered the Cheval Blanc chains's knack of creating three-star restaurants out of thin air, its Lakeside has managed to go from zero to one to two Michelin stars over the span of just two years. That is quite an accomplishment in itself, in particular for a chef who didn't previously have multiple stars to his name. Definitely worth a visit then.

Just like the hotel, the interior design of the restaurant is very modern with lots of white. The hotel has a very curvy exterior, which reminded me a bit of the 1970s, but that was not as apparent in the restaurant itself - its outside wall was just an arc of floor-to-ceiling windows facing downtown Hamburg. Reportedly, this is a glorious location to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks, and booked out months ahead of time. On the stormy night in July when we visited, the Außenalster was uncharacteristically devoid of boats. Still, it was a nice place to watch the sunset.

Lakeside offers just a single seven-course tasting menu, with an optional matching seven-glass wine pairing. These wines were pretty good throughout, my favorite was a 1999 Chateauneuf-du-Pape that came with the main course, but there were other interesting choices such as a wine that had been submerged in salt water during its aging process and as a result had a distinctive seawater aroma. Dietary restrictions were taken into account, so that one of us was served a pescatarian version of the menu. Kitchen and service also didn't miss a beat when one of us showed up two hours late - they seamlessly continued the dinner after our group grew from two to three.

Our meal started with a trio of amuse bouches, arranged on pedestals forming a staircase. In ascending order: first, a tartlet with a cucumber “drop” and some creme fraiche. The drop contained a liquid cucumber essence bursting with delicious, strong cucumber flavor. Together with the creme fraiche, it was reminiscent of a German cucumber salad - traditionally made with sour cream. The result was on the salty side, but still inside the range where more salt means more flavor. The tartlet had a nice crunch - very good overall 19. Bite number two was an umeboshi merengue filled with a mushroom cream. It actually tasted more meaty than mushroomy, my dining companion described it as akin to a beef broth. I wouldn't go quite that far, but it also had a nice, strong taste 18. Finally, a cracker with a sphere of foie gras mousse, roasted hazelnuts and figs. The heaviest of the three bites, it was also the sweetest, almost dessert-like, but probably the least surprising of the three 16. In a sense, what we got here was the progression from appetizer (salad) to main course (mushroom/beef broth) to dessert (sweet foie) - a whole dinner in three bites. A cute concept.

Sourdough bread made with wheat and rye flours had a good crunch, but only a light taste. A pretzel roll was fine, but unremarkable. The butter, shaped like the footprint of the hotel was also not particularly exciting 16.

One last bite before the official start of the tasting menu. A Gillardeau oyster was served with caviar and celery. I probably missed some more ingredients, but the dish was creamy and sour (maybe from pickled red onions?), and overall delicious. What I appreciated a lot was that the oyster taste still came through strong and clear - too often is it lost in dishes like this one 19.

Course number one was a hamachi tarare that came with almonds, a “pasta” made from raw kohlrabi and filled with fromage blanc, as well as a buttermilk sauce finished with kohlrabi oil and parsley. The sauce was lovely: salty and creamy. The fish was also nice, but unfortunately its flavor was overpowered by the much stronger sauce. A tasty result, however a bit more balance might make this even better 18.

A lobster from Brittany came with a lemongrass bouillon, coconuts, pineapples, a sesame mayonnaise and two “salad bites” spiced with chili oil. The lobster was cooked perfectly tender, and it practically soaked up the excellent broth that was bursting with flavor and very tasty. Finger limes added acidity to the broth, making the dish feel quite light overall. I was not totally sold on the use of pineapple here, but it was subtle enough to blend well with the other flavors. The salad on the side was refreshing, but a bit too acidic for my taste. Given that the rest of the dish was already light and acidic, it's not clear what the salad added in the end 19.

Loup de mer was served with artichokes, squid ink chips, rouille and a fennel broth made with saffron and olives. I thought that the fish was fine, but unremarkable - one of my dining companions described it as “dry”. The toppings were nice enough and added some crunch, but tastewise, this dish was dominated by the sauce. And unfortunately, especially compared to the previous courses, this time I was not a fan. The sauce was both very sour and very sweet, and those aspects didn't come together in a cohesive flavor profile. Not truly bad as such, but a step down from the preceding very good dishes 15.

Pigeon was served with roasted quinoa, broccoli, and a hollaindaise made with miso, ponzu and chives. On the side was a salad with marinated pink radishes. The side salad was fresh, acidic, and quite nice. The quinoa was not as crunchy as I had expected, and the pigeon a tad gamey and quite heavy. The hollandaise was lovely (18/19 by itself), but overall, mostly due to the so-so pigeon 17.

The pescatarian alternative was better: a sweet potato topped with roasted quinoa - the other components were the same. Here, the quinoa was very nicely crunchy and added lots of texture. The sauce made the result very salty, but I liked that as a balance to the sweet potato 18.

Our main course was lamb. On the side were an eggplant puree seasoned with ras el hanout spice, and some mint-flavored spinach. A lamb jus was added to the dish tableside, and a little “naan” bread on a separate plate was topped with dollops of yogurt. Spices from North Africa and bread from India are not often seen in the same dish, so this was a bit unusual. My favorite part of the dish was the simple and very tasty mint spinach - I was sad that there was so little of it. The eggplant was ok, its spices pretty light. The lamb was disappointing - a bit gamey and not very juicy. The “naan” was quite light in flavor and a bit too soft, although I liked the yogurt on top 15. Unfortunately, the pescatarian alternative wasn’t any better. Turbot came with a tomato sauce and the same eggplant and spinach sides. The turbot was not particularly exciting or flavorful, and the sauce was a surprisingly plain tomato sauce, I'd expect a bit more of a flavor “pop” from a two-Michelin-star restaurant 15.

On to the cheese course. Roquefort cheese was served as a mousse and topped with marinated radiccio, walnuts and walnut cream. A sour cherry vinaigraitte and frozen sour cherry pearls completed the dish. Described by our server as a cheese course designed for people who don't like blue cheese, this might have been a compromise that pleased neither side. My blue cheese-hating dining companions didn't finish the dish. As for myself, who happily seeks out Roquefort on a cheese cart, this dish was toned down so much that it lost the trademark strong flavor. The mix of salty salad and sweet cherries was nice, but didn't really save the cheese. To be fair, if I hadn't expected Roquefort, and rather just a creamy, cheesy dessert, then I would have considered this decent 16.

A pre-dessert made of strawberry, milk chocolate and yogurt was the restaurant's fancy recreation of a Yogurette chocolate bar - an association probably lost on any non-European guests. I could see the resemblance, but this version didn't improve meaningfully on the original. The fruit was ok, and the chocolate ice cream nice, but overall this felt a bit generic 15.

The main dessert consisted of white chocolate, passion fruit, a coconut sable, a cucumber sorbet and a passion fruit sauce. Fruity, acidic, crunchy, sweet, and a refreshing cucumber note, this was a nice combination. Brownie points for the chutzpah in adding cucumber to a dessert and having it work. And there was the nice symmetry that our dinner started and ended with a cucumber dish 18.

Four petit fours (no pun intended) concluded our dinner. Iced pina colada had nice fruity and coconutty flavors 18. A peach pistachio praline was not as distinctive 14. A raspberry bite with red currant and sencha tea had a yummy raspberry flavor 16. And finally, a praline filled with liquid salt caramel was amazing, the platonic ideal of this dish 20.

Overall: A very enjoyable dinner with excellent service and a great view. There were several dishes that justified the two stars and trended even higher. But unfortunately, there were also a few courses that didn't quite work for me. Some dishes used “Asian” and “African/Middle Eastern/Indian” influences, but did so by combining several different cuisines instead of sticking to a single one at a time. I honestly don't know what to make of that - on the one hand, if the result it tasty, who cares? Then again, after mentioning “ras el hanout” and “naan”, I somehow expected something more authentic than what I got... Which leads one to the question: why put all of these diverse dishes on the same tasting menu in the first place? Currently, it feels a bit random, but I think a compelling story could be made here: Hamburg is a historied trading port, and this might be a menu that reflects all the different imported spices and products 17.